If you need to make straight line cuts or
dados in wide or long boards or sheet materials using
hand-held power tools, chances are you will need a straight
edge tool guide. These come in many types and sizes, from
shop-made plywood guides costing next to nothing to commercial
aluminum guides packed with features and costing many hundreds
of dollars.

Both of these tool
guides offer different levels of features, and different
price points. Some consider them to be expensive, but others
value their features. So what is there on the cheaper end of
the scale for those woodworkers who are looking for a basic
tool guide that prefer to purchase one rather than build
their own? Some of us simply prefer to work on projects
rather than build shop jigs in our often limited shop time.

Straight edge guides
like the Torquata BJ-50 (and similar guides) offer the
woodworker a very inexpensive straight edge guide to use
with their power tools.

The BJ-50 Edge GuideThese types
of edge guides are basic in features and construction. The
main body of the guide comprises of an anodized aluminum
"rail" in which your power tool's base rides against to
provide your tool with a straight reference edge to make a
cut, similar to the fence on a table saw or router table.
The length of the BJ-50 guide is 1270mm (50") although the
same tool guide can also be purchased in shorter lengths at
even cheaper prices - 914mm (36") and 600mm (24"). The rail
is somewhat box construction, on three and a half edges at
least, but the aluminum is rigid and does not flex easily
once clamped into position.
Under normal load pushing against the side of the rail with
your power tool I didn't notice any noticeable flex along its length,
and all my cuts seemed equal in length across the rail.

Underneath the
aluminum rail you will find the clamping mechanism to clamp
the rail to your workpiece to make cuts. Unlike some basic
shop-made guides which require you to use F-clamps or
similar to clamp the guide down, the BJ-50 guide has an
"in-built" clamp on the underside which secures the clamp to
the edges of your workpiece. It features one fixed clamp
assembly on
one side of the tool and a sliding clamp fixture on the
other which can travel along the slide rod within the inner
rail space to clamp at any distance within the guide's range
(up to 1270mm - 50"). Clamping pressure is provided by a
simple cam clamp and clutch 'discs' which hold the clamp very well. I
have not had the clamp move during use at least, and no sign
that it was ever going to. The clamp
design allows it to quickly attach to any workpiece to make
a square cut. No extra clamps are required, and there are no
clamps on the top side of the rail to contend with or cause
obstructions like you may have with basic shop-made guides. The disadvantage of this clamp system however
is that it cannot clamp on angles, having the ability to
only clamp approximately square to the rail fence. The
clamps do not pivot themselves. Well perhaps by only a
degree or two. But for the price you pay for this clamp
(just A$35) you cannot expect total flexibility. However,
you could always use F-clamps or similar and set the guide
at an angle to make a cut and use it that way if you needed
to, so I wouldn't call it a major issue as such. The clamps
on the underside can also be used as a general clamp for
holding items together for glue-up or to use as a third hand
to hold something. It's not the ideal clamp to use for such
a situation, but in the absence of any other clamps it will
work reasonably well. It can only handle light pressure, so heavy duty
clamping requirements are not ideal.

The rail, being a
straight edge, is also useful as a long marking edge. You
can draw straight lines across sheet materials or boards
with it as well as any ruler - another handy use for the
guide.

Using the 1270mm
BJ-50 guide you can easily "cross-cut" full panel sheets
across its four foot length, hence why I recommend grabbing
the longer tool guides as opposed to the shorter ones.
Unlike the other guides mentioned above (Veritas and EZ
Smart) the BJ-50 and similar style guides are not modular
and you cannot readily connect several together easily (at
least they are not designed to be joined together) to make a
longer rail. The BJ-50 can be used for any length up to the
maximum 1270mm, so it is the most flexible, but also the
'bulkiest' to use. You might opt for a shorter version if
you know you will never (or rarely) need to cut larger than
the capacity of the guide itself.

Using the guide is
simple. First, mark out your cut line, next you need to
offset the rail by the distance between the fence and the
actual edge cut line of your saw blade or router bit etc.
Then slide the moving clamp underneath up to the edge of the board and
use the cam clamp to lock the guide in place. Double check
your fence placement and visually sight the line of the
blade or cutter to double check it looks correct before you
cut. Measure twice, cut once! Then, using the rail as your guide, start your power
tool, whether it be a circular saw, router, jigsaw etc and
start cutting, keeping the straight edge on the base of your
power tool pushed firmly against the guide rail, hence
making a straight cut. Once finished, just release the cam
clamp and the guide rail and proceed to set up for the next
cut. Pretty easy stuff. Perhaps the most time consuming step
is to measure the offset of the rail in relation to the
offset of the cutter on your power tool. Some other clamp
systems like the EZ Smart are designed to eliminate this
step, the guide being able to be secured right on the
cut line, but as mentioned, you pay a lot more for these and
other fancy features. If you only occasionally need to use a
straight edge guide like this, its pretty easy to look past
the limitations of these budget accessories. For around $35 they
are a really handy addition to your shop, particularly if
you need to cut down larger sheet materials before putting
them on the table saw, or if you need to make straight cuts
that are beyond the capacity to safely cut them on other
machines in the shop.

The Torquata BJ-50
tool guide is an indispensable accessory if you do not own a
table saw, if you regularly need to cut down larger
materials, or if you just need to make straight cuts that are
beyond the capacity or are not safe to cut on other
machines. Well worth the money these items sell for. You
could easily spend $35 or much more on some woodworking
accessories that are no where near as useful as the BJ-50
tool guide. Good value for money.

Available to
Order Online through these companies...Click graphic to go to
their direct product page for this item

In Australia

BJ-50 Power Tool Guide
Timbecon will also mail out to most parts of the
world
if you cannot find these items locally.

In the USANote that models and specifications
may differ.
These are similar items as those reviewed above, but may not
exactly be
the same.

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